Virginia election board to allow some expired IDs for voting

Virginians who let their driver's licenses, passports or other photo IDs expire will still get a chance to vote, as long as those documents aren't too old.

The State Board of Elections struck a compromise Wednesday between those who argued that an expired ID was not valid and those who said a photo ID should be valid no matter how long ago it expired.

"The board tried to take a middle ground ... we wanted to have a grace period," said Secretary Don Palmer.

It decided that photo IDs that expired within 12 months of an election day were valid for voting purposes, as long as they look genuine.

Voter ID laws have been a political flash point, with many Republicans claiming they are needed to prevent voter fraud and many Democrats arguing they are a way of discouraging voting by the poor, the elderly and minorities, who often lean Democratic.

Palmer proposed the 12-month grace period after reviewing photo ID laws in other states, particularly in Indiana where the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a 2005 voter ID law as valid and did not violate the Constitution by keeping anyone from equal access to the voting booth.

Palmer said the board's grace period was in line with Indiana's. Other states have grace periods ranging from 60 days to five years, he added.

He said he hoped the measure would address Attorney General Mark Herring's concerns over a proposal the board floated earlier this year that suggested a 30-day grace period. Still earlier, the board had proposed allowing any expired ID, as long as it was genuine and looked like the person presenting it.

Herring said he thought the board's action in striking some language about what constitutes a valid ID Wednesday was appropriate.

His concern with the 30-day proposal was over the way it defined valid documents generally as "having legal effect" or "being officially acceptable." That opened the door to different interpretations by election officers, and risked treating some voters unequally and that violates the Constitution, he said.

But advocates for easing voter access still object to the board's action.

"Since many forms of acceptable ID under the new photo ID law don't have an expiration date, it makes no sense to rule out some of the most common forms of ID simply because they're expired," said Anne Sterling, president the League of Women Voters of Virginia.

"Changing the rules again this close to the election means voters and election officials will face new confusion over who can vote," she added, referring to the special elections for vacant state Senate and House of Delegates seats set for Aug. 19.

The board's action also bothered state Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, who wrote the new voter ID law.

"I would say that there are fair reasons that one might take that position," Obenshain said, referring to the one-year grace period.

But he said doing so ought to be a matter for the General Assembly.

"I do not believe that the SBE has the power to redefine valid as including a document that is facially invalid," he said. Obenshain said the board helped write his bill and told legislators what would work for them.

"Now, nearly 18 months after it passed, they have decided they don't like it. I just wonder where they have been for the past 18 months," he said.